Search Engine Optimization tips for Bing

You know that there are other search engines beside Google, but many do not consider this within their SEO initiates.  It’s a hassle to try to make your page more search-engine friendly for more than one search engine, and besides, how many people even search outside of Google?  What if I told you that that answer was as high as 30% of all searches?  After all, did you really think that there was an IT market that Microsoft couldn’t muscle its way into?

With rare exceptions, what helps you with one search engine will help you with another.  Very little will get you forcibly pushed down the listings.  This means that whatever you do with Bing should also help you at least a bit with Google and all other search engines.  So since you don’t have anything to lose by doing so, let’s look at some of the most commonly offered tips for making sure your site gets well Binged.

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Pay it forward
Google also places some value on having relevant links out, but it appears from most metrics that Bing scores this even higher.  As always don’t overdo it.  Search engine programmers are well aware of how much you want to game their systems.  Keep it well populated, but not overcrowded.
Say anything
Bing also gives more attention to pages with a significant amount of text.  You’ll want at least 300 words of original text on your page.  Keep it relevant, and keep the keyword stuffing to a dull roar: once or twice per 300 word block is the most common recommendation.
Title your pages
Once, the title of your page was one of the more important page rank considerations.  Other search engines seem to have dropped that.  Bing is bringing it back, so make sure you put your most relevant keywords in there.  Again, though, don’t overdo it: one site recommends no more than 65 characters for this field.  This is a one-line-per-page fix that could make a huge difference.

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Structure your site well
Bing puts more emphasis on site architecture than other web search engines.  Some ways to take advantage of this include the following:

• Make your site “crawlable” – Ensure that your site is easy to navigate.  You can use a robots.txt file to help guide Bing along.
• Invest in a sitemap – A single page that maps out your entire web site is a good, comprehensive way to make sure your site is fully indexed.  For that matter, make it, and then go right to Bing and submit it there.
• Keep it text-based – Have as much of the information you want Bing to find in the form of text. If you have to have a heavy multi-media presentation, make sure that for all of if you have sufficient alternate text.

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To make it clear that we’re not just posting a useless guide, consider that one study ranked Bing higher than Google in “search efficiency.”  This is the metric of how much users click through on the engine’s suggested results.  This means that Bing just might soon be giving Google a run for its money, seeing as how results relevance is the #1 goal of a search engine.  If you are trying to get your site noticed, then this is not something you’ll want to miss out on.